Colombia’s Lopez wins Longines Leg in Madrid.

Colombia’s Carlos Lopez, winner of the sixth leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2014/2015 Western European League in Madrid, Spain today, pictured with his winning horse, Prince de la Mare, and Longines Brand Manager for Spain, Miguel Angel Palmer. (FEI/Herve Bonnaud).

Colombia’s Carlos Lopez and Prince de la Mare seized victory in today’s sixth leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2014/2015 Western European League in Madrid, Spain.

The 49-year-old rider who took team bronze at the FEI Central American and Caribbean Games on home turf in Bogota in 2006, and who finished 18th individually at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy, was fourth to go in the electrifying 11-horse jump-off.

And despite their most gallant attempts, the rest just couldn’t catch him, with Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander coming closest with a last-to-go run partnering Lintea Tequila. Talented young Frenchman, 23-year-old Alexandre Fontanelle, slotted into third with Prime Time des Vagues, while Italy’s Emanuele Gaudiano and Admara 2 lined up fourth.

First time

This was the first time for Madrid to host to a leg of the FEI World Cup™ Jumping series, and the action took place at the Fiera Exhibition Centre close to the airport.

Course designer, Spain’s Javier Trenor, presented a track filled with challenging oxers and demanding attention to detail all the way. The triple-combination at fence six – oxer, vertical, oxer on a two-stride to one-stride pattern – claimed plenty of scalps, while another influential obstacle was the double at fence 10.

It was a truly international jump-off with two representatives from Spain and the remaining nine flying the flags of different nations.

Led the way

Belgium’s Judy-Ann Melchior led the way with a clear but cautious run with As Cold as Ice Z to set the early target at 41.80 seconds. Switzerland’s Paul Estermann was also making his Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2014 season debut, and although he broke the beam more than two seconds sooner he left the 1.55m oxer at fence seven on the floor to stay out of contention.

The jump-off track began with the vertical at fence three and continued through the oxer at four, the 1.60m vertical at five and the first two elements of the triple-combination at fence six, following which riders could pick up time with a tight left-handed roll-back to the oxer at seven. From there it was a long run to the water-tray vertical at nine before pulling hard left and galloping the full length of the arena to the final oxer, formerly fence two.

These long runs are always designed to keep both riders and spectators on the edge of their seats, and this one provided plenty of drama.

No mistake

Spain’s first chance was lost when Pilar Cordon’s Nuage Bleu clipped the first element of the former triple combination, but Lopez made no mistake. Setting off like the world was on fire, the Colombian never took his foot off the accelerator and galloped through the finish in 38.69 to really put it up to the rest of them.

Fontanelle came dangerously close, with a super-smooth run from the 11-year-old gelding Prime Time des Vagues that included a masterful turn to fence seven, but they were 0.22 off Lopez’s target. And when Norway’s Dag Ove Kingsrod (Dimaro), Spain’s Sergio Moya (Carlo) and reigning Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping champion Daniel Deusser from Germany (Pironella) each left a pole on the floor the Colombian was still out in front.

With just three left to go, Italy’s Gaudiano set off at a terrific pace with his nine-year-old Admara who crossed the line in 39.14 seconds. But as Britain’s Robert Whitaker set sail, he looked even more of a threat. Turning the 11-year-old Catwalk IV down the final line he appeared to be up on the clock, but the stallion grabbed the bridle and hung to the right, leaving his rider desperately fighting for control, and when they arrived at the final oxer Whitaker couldn’t straighten him up enough, so the horse ran through the gap between the right-hand upright and the edge of the arena while the crowd gasped in disbelief.

Only Tops-Alexander stood between Lopez and victory now, and the 40-year-old Australian gave it her best shot with Lintea Tequila who broke the beam 0.01 seconds quicker than Fontanelle to claim runner-up spot but leaving Lopez in pole position.

Glorious result

It was a glorious result for the Colombian whose partnership with the horse previously competed by Italy’s Juan Carlos Garcia is clearly in the ascent. Successful earlier in this career, Lopez was missing from the top end of the sport for 12 years when based back in Colombia, but two years ago decided to make a come-back and it seems it is working out pretty well.

“The sport has changed a lot while I was away” said the rider who is now based south of Lyon in France. “When I was in Colombia I ran a farm and did some coaching while competing at national level” he explained. His return however has coincided with the appointment of Marcel Delestre, father of French Jumping star Simon Delestre, who led the Colombian team to a creditable 10th-place finish in Caen. And he has found a great equine partner in Prince de la Mare.

“I saw him and fell in love with him, he is very careful and has the heart of a fighter although he has his problems” Lopez said of his horse. “He wasn’t broken too well and I didn’t try him before we bought him which is always risky, but he is much better now” Lopez pointed out.

Asked if he thought he would win from his fourth-to-go jump-off run he answered, “no, I didn’t, I thought I might be in the first three because I didn’t start too fast and I had a problem with the hackamore (bridle) on the turn to fence seven so I knew I had to gallop from there! That’s the sport, sometimes you are lucky, sometimes not, and little things make a big difference” said today’s winner.

The sixth leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2014/2015 Western European League took place at Madrid Horse Week staged at Fiera Exhibition Centre in Madrid, Spain today.
This is a new venue for the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping series, and is located close to Madrid airport.
Seating for 3,500 spectators.
Course designer was Spain’s Javier Trenor.
12 obstacles, 15 jumping efforts, time-allowed in round one was 69 seconds.
The youngest horses in today’s competition were the 8-year-olds B Men, ridden by Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt and Colestus competed by Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum.
18 nations represented.
7 nine-year-old horses took partin today’s competition.
During the interval between the first and second rounds, seven-time Olympian and 10-time Spanish National Champion Luis Alvarez Cervara was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the event organisers.
Today’s winning horse-and-rider combination were Colombia’s Carlos Lopez and Prince de la Mare.
The next leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2014/2015 Western European League take place at Olympia, London on 21 December 2014.
Olympic champion, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat, heads the Western European League standings ahead of The Netherlands’ Harrie Smolders in second and Frenchman, Kevin Staut, in third while Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander has moved into fourth place following her runner-up finish today.

Quotes:

Carlos Lopez (COL) “Marcel (Delestre) has been training us for a year now and was with us at the World Championships in Caen”

Carlos Lopez (COL) “I’m really, really happy, especially because I really believe in this horse since we bought him one year ago! We had a target to go to the World Championships and I would have been very happy to finish in the top 30 there, but instead we finished 18th! Now we are starting to improve and improve every time we compete together, and when it comes to the jump-off I can really go!”

Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2014/2015 Western European League – Standings after Round 6 at Madrid (ESP):

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